1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to ionic conductive wires and methods and more particularly, to ionic conductive wires and methods for use in screening electrode samples in an array of combinatorial electrodes.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, an electrochemical cell is composed of electrodes and electrolyte. An electrochemical reaction is a chemical reaction that occurs between the electrode and electrolyte. Electrochemistry is a branch of science that studies chemical reactions within an electrochemical cell. Many electrochemical devices have been widely used in fuel cells, batteries, capacitors, sensors and electrochromic displays. Normally, only one electrochemical cell is used in traditional electrochemical research.
Recently, a combinatorial approach to study the electrochemistry, where an array of electrodes was studied, i.e., a group of electrochemical cells. The combinatorial concept originated from biology to screen large collections of samples, or a library of biological structures. One of the applications to molecular chemistry was the development of catalytic antibodies. More recently it has been introduced to material science for use in superconductors. Successful catalysts from hundreds of binary, ternary and quaternary metal alloy compositions using the combinatorial approach have been, found. However, an optical screening method has been used to determine the variations of proton concentration within various small active portions. Because the variation of proton concentration is not detectable within these small portions in concentrated base and acid solutions, the wide applications of the optical screening method has been limited in many practical electrochemical systems.
An electrolyte is a phase through which charge is carried by the movement of ions. Electrolytes may be liquid solutions or fused salts, or they may be ionic conductive solids, such as polymer electrolytes. Numerous electrolyte compositions have been reported, including liquid and polymer electrolytes. However, these electrolytes have not been designed for combinatorial electrochemistry.
Additionally, various electrochemical cells and apparatus have been employed for a variety of applications in fuel cells, batteries, capacitors, sensors, electrochromic displays and laboratory experiments. The combinatorial method has been utilized in recent years to screen hundreds or thousands of experimental samples in a short time. Use of the combinatorial method has been employed in chemical synthesis, microelectronic devices, sensors, and identification of chemicals.
In recent years, the direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) has been a very active area in fuel cell research. One of the serious technical obstacles for development of DMFC is poor catalytic activity of the anode catalysts. Approximately one-third of the available energy is lost at the anode electrode due to poor activity of the catalyst. In order for the DMFC to become a practical power, the anode catalyst must be improved. A single face ternary Pt—Ru—Os catalyst for direct methanol fuel cells has been seen. (65% Pt, 25% Ru and 10% Os). Many experimental measurements are needed for study on numerous catalyst samples. The traditional approach is to measure the current and voltage of experimental fuel cells one by one under numerous experimental conditions. It is very difficult to completely evaluate all of the catalysts at the same time and under the same experimental conditions. The variations of time and experimental conditions cause the research on electrode catalysts to be more complex.